To guard this subject against abuse, we must suggest a caution —
[Some may take occasion from it to defer their repen- tance: but it does not afford any just ground for such conduct. The case was singular as it respects both Christ1, and the Thiefn. It is extreme folly, therefore, to reject the present overtures of mercy in expectation of such a miraculous con- version at the last.]
m He did not require the Thief to do any thing in order to merit his mercy.
n Isai. lv. 1. ° 1 Kings hi. 11—13. or Matt, xviii. 26, 27.
p This is sometimes called Hades or Hell, as in Acts ii. 27. and in the Creed ; but it means the place where departed saints dwell in the presence of God, 2 Cor. xii. 2, 4. and Rev. ii. 7.
9 Neither our Lord nor his apostles ever countenanced the idea of the soul sleeping till the resurrection. See 2 Cor. v. 8.
1 Had the executioners now offered to release him, surely he would have said like St. Paul, Phil. i. 23.
s Isai. lv. 8, 9.
1 Christ was now in the lowest state of humiliation ; Divine wis- dom judged it necessary therefore to give to the world some signal display of his dignity and glory. Hence the whole creation was con- strained to bear testimony to him; Matt, xxvii. 45, 51. and the Thief was chosen from among men to be a monument of his power and grace. But such an occasion never will occur again ; and there- fore no similar interposition is to be expected.
u The Thief, like other malefactors, had most probably disregarded the means of grace, and never heard of Christ before. Yet now he con- fessed his sin, rebuked his companion, vindicated Christ, and com- mitted himself entirely to his mercy. But how different was this exercise of grace from what we generally see on a death-bed ! And what little reason have we to expect that such grace shall be given us in our last hours, when we are despising the offers of Grace and Mercy which are made to us continually !