such a time
as that; but hanging there in the midst of torture, and certain to
be dead in a few hours, instead of confessing his sins and preparing
to meet that God whose law he had broken all his life, he is abusing
God's only Son. Surely, he cannot sink any lower, until he sinks
into hell!

UNDER CONVICTION.

The next time we hear of him, he appears to be under conviction:

"And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on Him, saying,
If thou be Christ, save Thyself and us. But the other answering
rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the
same condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we receive the due
reward of our deeds: but this Man hath done nothing amiss."

What do you suppose made so great a change in this man in these few
hours? Christ had not preached a sermon, had given him no
exhortation. The darkness had not yet come on. The earth had not
opened her mouth. The business of death was going on undisturbed.
The crowd was still there, mocking and hissing and wagging the head.
Yet this man, who in the morning was railing at Christ, is now
confessing his sins and rebuking the other thief. "We indeed
justly!" No miracle had been wrought before his eyes. No angel from
heaven had come to place a glittering crown upon His head in place
of the bloody crown of thorns.

What was it wrought such a change in him?

I will tell you what I think it was. I think it was the Savior's
prayer:

"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

I seem to hear the thief

TALKING TO HIMSELF

in this way:

"What a strange kind of man this must be! He claims to be king of
the Jews, and the superscription over His cross says the same. But
what sort of a throne is this! He says He is the Son of God. Why
does not God send down His angels and destroy all these people who
are torturing His Son to death? If He has all power now, as He used
to have when He worked those miracles they talked about, why does He
not bring out His vengeance, and sweep all these wretches into
destruction? I would do it in a minute if I had the power. I
wouldn't spare any of them. I would open the earth and swallow them
up! But this man prays to God to forgive them! Strange, strange! He
_must_ be different from us. I am sorry I said one word against Him
when they first hung us up here.

What a difference there is between Him and me! Here we are, hanging
on two crosses, side by side; but all the rest of ou