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cond Adam, the Lord from Heaven, paradise is regained; a far better paradise; a garden from whence the blessed inhabitant shall never be driven out. Here grows the Rose of Sharon, and the Lily of the valley. Here flourishes the plant of Renown; here the unforbidden tree of knowledge, and the unguarded tree of life.' No subtle serpent annoys this happy spot, any more to seduce: nor shall the free will of man betray him to ruin again.

Jesus promises to the penitent the enjoyment of his own company there-This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise, Christ then was going, not to hell, to redeem the damned, as some have supposed, but to heaven! where he assures the thief he shall also be. It is the presence of Christ that makes Heaven so glorious and happy. With this he consoled his mourning friends, John xiv. 2, 3. I am going to prepare a place for you; and I will come again, and receive you to myself, that where I am, there ye may be also.' Amazing favour, -to be with Christ! This is enough. He asked a bare remembrance, as if distant; Jesus promises his own immediate presence.

And how quickly was this to be enjoyed! To-day' He had prayed- Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.' He knew not when that might be; perhaps he thought of some very distant time. Christ says, "To-day." How short and speedy was this man's journey to glory! in the morning he was posting to hell; in the evening he is with Christ in Heaven. This Scripture teaches us a pleasant truth, namely, that there is no interval between the time of our departure from this world by death, and our admission into the realms of glory. Some have dreamed that the soul sleeps till the resurrection: but Christ assures the thief, and assures us by the same word, of an immediate entrance into Heaven; that so, being absent from the body, we may be present with the Lord.' Of all this, Jesus vouchsafes the most solemn assurance; he adds his usual asseveration, Verily.' Perhaps he saw some rising doubts in the sinner's mind. The blessing promised was so vast and unexpected; he might feel so much his own vileness and unworthiness,

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as to fear he should not obtain it; but he put the matter out of all doubt, Christ adds a kind of oath to his promise, that so this heir of promise might have strong consolation.' And is not the Scripture full of similar assurances, that whosoever believeth in Jesus shall not perish, but have everlasting life?' Yea, more he that believeth hath,' even now, hath everlasting life; and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life.'—' Wherefore then dost thou doubt, O thou of little faith ?'

APPLICATION.

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1. Beware of abusing this glorious instance of free grace. Many have been very cautious of speaking of it, and have rather laboured to obscure its glory, by studying to find out something good in the character of the thief; lest this example of grace purely free, and granted at the last hour, should have a dangerous tendency, and encourage men to defer their repentance; presumptuously hoping to be saved at the last moment, like the thief. But a sober consideration of the matter, may prevent this abuse; while we must take care to do nothing to diminish the glory of divine grace, in this instance so illustriously displayed. It has been often and justly observed, We have but one such instance recorded in all the Bible: one sinner converted at the hour of death, that we may hope; and but one, that we may fear.' And suppose it had once happened that a person had leaped down from a lofty precipice without losing his life, would it be prudent for ten thousand other people to run the risk, and leap down after him ? Dreadfully hazardous indeed it is for men to presume on a death-bed repentance. Repentance is the gift of God; he is bound to bestow it at no time; and can it be reasonably expected at the close of a life of sin and rebellion? Let it be considered how many die suddenly, without a moment's warning; how many die on their beds, who are so flattered by their disorder or their friends, that they have no expectation at all of death. Others die in the delirium of a fever; or are otherwise disabled by extreme agony or weakness for serious re

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flection. And some die hardened, like the other thief on the cross; for in general men die as they live.

But, 2. Behold and admire the grace of God! Salvation is always of grace. Surely it was so in this instance. Sin, indeed, abounded, but grace superabounded. Whosoever is saved, must be saved on the very same terms as the thief was; Justified freely by God's grace, through the redemption that is in Christ;' -without money and without price: not of works, lest any man should boast. Boasting is always excluded in salvation, whoever is the subject of it. How eminently so here! Who was it that made one thief to differ from the other? Bishop Hall says, "Lord, he could not have spoken this to thee, but by thee. What possibility was there for a thief to think of thy kingdom without thy Spirit? That good Spirit of thine breathed upon this man, breathed not upon his fellow; their trade was alike; their state alike; their sins were alike; their cross alike; only thy mercy makes them unlike one is taken, the other left. : Blessed be thy mercy, in taking one! Blessed be thy justice, in leaving the other! Who can despair of that mercy? Who can but tremble at that justice?

Let every sinner, who reads or hears this, know he needs mercy just as much as this criminal. But, I am not a thief,' says one. Perhaps you have not robbed man; but have you not robbed God? Have you not defrauded him of the glory due to his name? Have you not robbed him of the Sabbath, a portion of time which he demands for his own service. Have you not embezzled his talents, which were given you to trade with, for the purposes of his honour, and your own salvation?' Boast not, then, that you have paid every man his own, when you have, in a thousand instances, defrauded the blessed God of his due. See, then, the necessity of mercy, and dread the thought of a double condemnation, the one for sin and the other for unbelief.

May the goodness of God so divinely displayed in this instance, draw thee to repentance. Jesus Christ 6 came to seek and to save that which was lost.' This was always his character, and he maintained it to the

last. His enemies reproached him for it; and they called him The Friend of Sinners;' so he was; but not the friend of sin. Blessed be his name, he is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever.' He casts out none that come. O come and try him! What encouragement is here for him that is ready to perish :' who has a world of guilt, and not a grain of worthiness! Say with the dying thief, Lord, remember me, now thou art in thy kingdom,' and he will find a place in paradise for you, even for you.

This prayer will suit the Christian all his days-Lord, remember me! When guilt recurs,-when temptations assault, when troubles arise,-look to the Saviour. He who remembered thee in thy low estate,' will not forget thee now. Like the high priest of old, he bears the names of all his people on his heart; and, though even a tender mother may forget her sucking child, yet he protests he will remember thee. In return, go thou and remember him.

COLLECT.

BLESSED JESUS! thou art full of compassion. Thou art able and willing to save to the uttermost all who come to God by thee. We praise thee for thy merciful kindness in decending from Heaven to earth for us men, and for our salvation. We praise thee for that condescending love which made thee willing to be numbered with the transgressors and we praise thee for that compassion, which on the cross, thou didst manifest towards the dying criminal who implored thy help. O thou gracious Redeemer! thou art the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever! Still art thou rich in mercy unto all that call upon thee; unto all that call thee in truth.

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Let none, we beseech thee, be suffered to abuse this glorious example of thy pardoning mercy, by continuing in sin; and by putting off, to a dying hour, the care

of the immortal spirit. Grant that they who are tempted thus to act, may remember how uncertain it is when, and in what manner, the messenger of death shall come; and that now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation.

We pray that the mercy shown to the dying thief, may be the means of encouraging many a self-condemned, trembling penitent, to trust in the same mercy, believing that where sin abounded, grace shall much more abound. And O that the goodness of God may lead others to repentence! May the bright beams of mercy, reflected from the Saviour's cross, melt the stout-hearted rebel into tears of godly sorrow.

That these happy effects may follow the words which have now been addressed to the outward ear, we pray that the same divine influence which caused repentance and faith to spring up in the heart of a once-hardened criminal, may descend on this assembly, and be imparted to every individual present.

O Lord Jesus, remember us now that thou art in thy kingdom. Remember us with the favour which thou bearest to thy people. In all time of our tribulation, in all time of our wealth, in the hour of death, and in the day of judgment, good Lord, remember and deliver us.