ntage to share in His
rejection now.

May the Lord keep us from halting; and may we, when weighed in the
balance, not be found wanting! May God help every reader to do all
that the poor blind beggar did, and all that Joseph did!

Let us confess Him at all times and in all places. Let us show our
friends that we are out and out on His side. Every one has a circle
that he can influence, and God will hold us responsible for the
influence we possess. Joseph of Arimathea and the blind man had
circles in which their influence was powerful. I can influence
people that others cannot reach; and they, in their turn, can reach
a class that I could not touch. It is only for a little while that
we can confess Him and work for Him. It is only for a few months or
years; and then the eternal ages will roll on, and great will be our
reward in the crowning day that is coming. We shall then hear the
Master say to us:

"Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of
thy Lord."

God grant it may be so!

THE PENITENT THIEF

It should give us all a great deal of hope and comfort that Jesus
saved such a man as the penitent thief just before He went back to
heaven. Every one who is not a Christian ought to be interested in
this case, to know how he was converted. Any one who does not
believe in sudden conversions ought to look into it. If conversions
are gradual, if it takes six months, or six weeks, or six days to
convert a man, there was no chance for this thief. If a man who has
lived a good, consistent life cannot be converted suddenly, how much
less chance for him! Turn to the 23d chapter of Luke, and see how
the Lord dealt with him. He was a thief, and the worst kind of a
thief, or else they would not have punished him by crucifixion. Yet
Christ not only saved him, but took him up with Himself into glory.

Let us look at Christ hanging on the cross between the two thieves.
The Scribes and Pharisees wagged their heads, and jeered at Him. His
disciples had fled. Only His mother and one or two other women
remained in sight to cheer Him with their presence among all the
crowd of enemies. Hear those spiteful Pharisees mocking among
themselves: "He saved others; Himself He cannot save." The account
also says that the two thieves "cast the same in his teeth."

REVILING.

The first thing we read, then, of this man is that he was a reviler
of Christ.

You would think that he would be doing something else at