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4n Examination of the Case qf the Penitent on the
Cross, and of the Inferences from it.

A SERMON,
LATELY PREACHED

BEFORE

€&e itlntoettiitg.

A BY WILLIAM COOPER, B. D.
RECTOR OF WEST RASEN AND WADINGHAM IN THE
COUNTY OF LINCOLN, AND LATE FELLOW,
AND TUTOR OF ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE,
CAMBRIDGE.

LONDON
SOLD BY MESSRS. F. C. AND J. RIVINGTON, St. PAUL'S CHURCH-
YARD j DEIGHTON, NICHOLSON, AND BARRETT, CAM
BRIDGE j AND COOKE, OXFORD.

1812.
W. Flint, Printer, Old Bailey, London,

Luke xxiii. 42, 43.
And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me,
when thou comest into thy kingdom.
And Jesus said unto him, verily I say unto
thee, to day shalt thou be with me in
* paradise.

Jb ROM the short history of the penitent
on the cross has arisen an important question
on the efficacy of a repentance begun in the
last hours of life. The appearance of disa
greement in the accounts of St. Matthew
and St. Mark from that of St. Luke, and
the paucity of circumstances related even in
the more particular narrative of the last
-mentioned Evangelist, have left room for dif
ferences of interpretation, and for conjecture.
St. Matthew and St. Mark state merely that
the thieves, who were crucified with him,
B

reviled him. St. Luke gives an account of
the opposite conduct of those two incjividuals.
Hence Chrysostom a and Jerome K and almost
all the ancient Christian interpreters, with the
» Tom. vii. p. 820. Ed. Montfaucon, 1718-1738.
In Hom. ii. de cruce et latrpne, the eloquent Father
speaks of the conversion of the thief as miraculous : o?«
siucreguQet .aura t»iv dvtxij.it 'oiaXafjMnaxi. T»iv xliufv «cto»»«, rai
ltirga.s ditggql-t, nis yttrgas a»txi§nroTEg av rs Xws 4'Uj^>iv xmffi ftaXa-
nuregat tifyouram, Tom. ii. p. 413.
b Non quod discrepent evangelia ; sed quod primum
uterque ^lasphemiaverit ; .dehinc, sole fugiente, terra com-
mota, saxisque disruptis, et ingruentibus tenebris, unus
crediderit in Jesum, et priorem negationem sequenti con-
fessione emendaverit. Tom. iv. p. 138. Ed. Martianay
Par. 1706. But of these miracles the darkness alone com
menced before the expiration of Jesus.
Nunquam est sera conversio. Latro de cruce transiit ad
par9.disu.p1. j Hierou. Epist. J vii. a4 Lcetam. Tom. iv. p.
591. It may he proper to mention, that Theophylact has as
signed a different reason for the supposed sudden conversion
of one of the malefactors. Ev aq yy /mv wtos ras Sw xafnyoqiit
ixvts' ttra. tov Itejov avTcat «yj£iv«v ena.pitiyviiiya.i Tnt lucra ayaQor-nra.
xeci Seotmt* ex. -ns pvvns, .is tnoicim vnsg "row favgyvTw, <jixTigf
Xiyw, uQes avrois. Comment, in Luc. xxiii. 39. But in ap
age in which the desire-of revenge was considered as a virtue,
a prayer for the forgiveness of enemies would rather have
excited contempt ; and there seems not to be in this prayer
anysupli tone of authority as could have suggested the no
tion of our Saviour's divinity. See Soame Je^yns'fS View
of the internal Evidence of the Christian Religion, Pro,pj
III.

3
view of reconciling the accounts, had retfoiMSe
to the supposition, that the penitent thief was-
at first a partaker in the guilt of reproach w^th
life, more hardened associate. Were this shewn
to have been the fact, an instance would then
be discovered of faith and repentance, which
originating at a period almost the latest pos
sible were yet effectual to the saving of the
soul, c
But most modem expositors on the contrary
are of opinion, that the conduct of the con
certed malefactor on that awful occasion was
one uniform display of faith and repentance.
And since instances may be alleged from
the Gospels, in which wriaj is attributed to
several persons, as to the disciples in general,
in one account, is in another attributed to a
single individual, who is expressly named ; and
in other instances, where more persons than
one are included in the strict grammatical con
struction, the sense shews that one only is
intended;" and since, when the two former
Evangelists relate, that insults were offered
to the crucified leader by the chief priests
and scribes and elders, it Cannot be imagined,
e Heb. x. 39.
* See' the note in Archbishop Newcome's Harmony on
Matth. xxvii. 44.

that they meant to include every individual
present of all those denominations ; and it
is not a necessary inference, that, when they
add, the thieves also who were crucified with
him, reviled him, e they intended to assert
more than that the voice of contumely was
alike heard even from the victims of public
justice; and since the more circumstantial
account of St. Luke contains no allusion to
a change of disposition in either convict, a
fact, which, if it were real, was most re^
markable and important, it will perhaps be
admitted, that this opinion is already recom
mended by a good degree of probability.
It acquires great additional support from
the knowledge, which this penitent appears
to have had, of the pretensions and promises of
our Lord. And he said unto Jesus, Lord,
remember me, when thou comest into thy king
dom. The object of his petition was happiness
in a future state. For when a few hours were
about to close the life of himself, and of the
personage, to whom he attributed the sove
reignty of a kingdom, and whose protection
he solicited, it were absurd to suppose, that
he employed the term kingdom in the sense,
in which it was generally understood by the
! Matth, xxvii. 44. Mark xv-32.

^ews in reference to the Messiah. Nay he
seems even to have penetrated farther into
the Christian scheme of redemption, than
either the disciples, or the constant and con
fidential attendants of the Messiah, the Apos
tles themselves. For from the same view
of the. character and office of the Messiah,
, from which, on the third day after his crur
cifixion, the two disciples at the village of
Emmaus had confessed, They trusted, that it
had been he, which should have redeemed Is
rael, f was the question, Lord, wilt thou at
this time restore again the kingdom to Israel, *
addressed by the Apostles to their Master
immediately before his ascension.
At what time then did the persuasion, that
rewards in a future life awaited the disposal
of the despised and persecuted, the finally
rejected, and crucified preacher of the new
religion first gain possession of the mind of
this man ? Was it amid the tumult and terror,
the disgrace and agony of a public execu
tion on the cross, that he first heard and com
prehended and acknowledged the high and
unexampled claims of Jesus f On the contrary,
the presumption qf guilt, which inany country
t Luke xxiv. 21.
* Acts i. .6.

attaches to all, who suffer ddath under a sen
tence of the supreme court Of justice, was in
the mind of the penitent overcome with
regard to our Saviour by a competent know
ledge of his conduct. We, said he to his justly
suffering fellow convict', We receive the due
reward of our deeds ; but this man hath done
nothing atitissA There can be little doubt then,
that his imprisonment took plaee long after
the commencement of our Lord's ministry, as
well as after the monitory preaching of John
the Baptist. And thus might he have carried
with him into confinement the elements of his
future discoveries, and aided in his religious
pursuits by accounts of our Saviour's doctrine
and acts brought to him at his own solicitation
petfhaps in prison, especially within a short
time previous to the crucifixion, have already
matured, and evea displayed by a _ reformed
-conduct, the faith and repentance, of whieh
he made oh the dross so signal a confession
unto salmtioti. ' And ffom what source, but
a very eareftil and frequent comparison o£
the various acts and discourses of our Lord,
Which he had witnessed himself, or learned
from th& report of others, was it possible for
him to have derived the knowledge of the
h Lnke axiii. 41.
* Rom. *. 10*

7

future kingdom of the Miessiah, a knowledge,
not acquired till long after by the Apostles ?
They still contemplated and fondly cherished
the favourite Jewish expectation of temporal
greatness in a restoration of the kingdom to
Israel; while every hope of the destitute
criminal was turned to a future state, every
endeavour employed on the qualifications for
future hiappiness.
If this be the tfue account of the circum
stances of his conversion, it follows, that,
there is no instance recorded in scripture,
in which we know, that a repentance begun
almost at the point of death was effectual to
the attainment of reward in a future state.
There is indeed a fictitious case in the
parable of the labourers in the vineyard,
which it has been argued is parallel to that
of the penitent thief as understood in the
earlier ages.
Now the context will rather lead us to in
terpret that parable of the different periods
at which different nations have been called to
the profession of true religion ; however,
granting, that it admits a further application -to
the religious circumstances of individuals, er
even that the latter was the direct and princi-

pally intended object of the parable, the argu
ment founded upon it may yet receive a clear
and satisfactory answer. The labourers, who
had continued idle till the eleventh hour, did
indeed receive an equal reward with those
who had born the burden and heat of the day*.
But not to mention, that they acceded to the
first invitation to labour, the fact, that they had
laboured during the last hour, a twelfth part of
the time designed to be devoted to labour, that
is, to drop the language of the parable, that
they had pursued a course of virtuous prac
tice for a considerable period up to the final
close of declining life, makes their case greatly
different from that of persons, whose efforts
have not carried them beyond sorrow and good
resolutions. The solution then, which the early chris
tian writers have given of the difficulty arising
from the difference in the accounts, is unneces
sary, and ill accords with every other circum
stance of the case.
Again, if we adopt the opinion of later wri
ters on this subject, that his contrition conti
nued unvarying from the time of his crucifix
ion to his death, the conjecture will readily
1 Matth. xx. 12.

present itself to our minds, and its truth be
almost unavoidably admitted, that his belief
and reformation had been previously effected.
It is material to be recollected here, that un
questionably among the Jews of our Saviour's
time the state of opinion was such, that the
acknowledgment of a miracle did not immedi
ately lead them to admit the pretensions of the
author of it. In their apprehension it was
possible, that opposite claims should be sup
ported by the evidence of miracles, and the su
periority remain to be decided by a prepon
derance of miraculous proofs. When Christ
cometh -will he do more miracles than those,
which this man hath done P ' After the fullest
allowance, therefore, for the force of that strik
ing evidence, the miraculous darkness which
attested the divine mission ofthe expiring Re
deemer,1" it is still improbable, that this peni
tent would at once make the just inference
from it.°Besides, that miracle alone was incapa
ble of any inference, which would have led him
to offer the petition, Lord, remember me, when
thou comest into thy kingdom,. For miracles in
> John vii. 31.
m See note b.
» See Paley">s Evidences, part iii. c, 4. and Bp.- Horsleyte
Sermon on Mark vii. 37. C

10
their general nature are merely credentials of a
commission from God. The purpose of the
commission, and the rank of the personage
invested with it, must be either unfolded by
ordinary methods, or made known by miracles
adapted to: those particular ends. Accordingly,
the Almighty Father announced by a voice
from heaven the transcendently exalted rank of
the messenger of the covenant ; ° This is my be
loved lsonv '•': and to that divine person it was
still left to: declare, my kingdom is not of this
world*. And thust-will.be removed all semblance of
analogy between this celebrated case, and
cases, as they have been commonly denomi
nated, ; of: deaths-bed repentance, to which it.
has not unfrequently been compared, in our
own, -' as well as former ages ofthe christian
church. In the general law of human salvation and
happiness as revealed in scripture . faith' and
» Malachi iii. 1.
v Matth. iii. 17.
' John xviii. 36.
• See Dr. Outram's " Extracts "made chiefly from the
writings of Arminian and Calvinistic Methodists," subjoin
ed to his Sermons, sect. xi. xii. Carob. 1809.
* Faith is by the best writers on Theology called indis-

11
obedience are both made conditions. On the
former condition there is no dispute. The
following passages establish the latter.
Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord,
shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he,
that doeth ihe will of my Father, which is in
heaven. Follow peace with all men, and holiness, with
out wliich no man shall see the Lord.7
Wlio will render to every man according to
his deeds ; to them, who by patient continuance
in well doing seek for glory and honour and
immortality, eternal life ; but to them, that are
contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey
unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, tribula-
criuiinaiely a mean and a condition of Justification, and
consequently of Salvation. The idea of a mean is indeed
distinct from the idea of a condition. But if we consider
faith as an appointed condition of salvation, the acquiring
of faith is a mean of salvation : Or, if we conceive of
faith as an appointed mean, the acquiring of faith is a con
dition of salvation. For " the whole analogy of nature
shews, that we are not to expect any benefits without
making use of the appointed means for obtaining or en
joying them." Butler's Analogy, part ii. chap. 1.
* Matth. vii. 21.
* Heb. xii. 14.

12
tion and anguish upon every soul of man, that
doeth evil?
Ey works a man is justified, and not by faith
only* As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith
without works is dead also.7
We are buried with him by baptisminto death;
that like as Christ was raised up from the dead
by the glory of the father, even so we also should
walk in newness of life.'
Let every one, that nameth the name of Christ,
depart from iniquity."
Whosoever doeth not righteousness, is not of
God.b Then shall he say also unto them on the left
hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlast
ing fire prepared for the devil and his angels ;
for I was an hungered, and ye gave me no meat ;
I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink; I was
a stranger, and ye took me not in ; naked, and
w Rom. ii. 6. &c, * Jam. ii. 24.
7 Jam. ii. 26. * Rom. vi. 4.
* 2 Tim. ii. 19. » 1 John iii. 10.

13
ye clothed me not ; sick, and in prison, and ye
visited me not. — Inasmuch as ye did it not to one
ofthe least of these, ye did it not to me.
And if now we put the supposed case that
in a christian country a man professing the re
ligion of Christ has lived without regard to its
doctrines and precepts, and in his last hours
repents, and attains even to so sincere a faith, so
pure and active a resolution, that, were his life
longer continued, the due effects of them would
be exhibited in an opposite conduct, we shall
find no ground in revelation to conclude, that
the mercy of God would be extended to it.
But in any real case of that kind, whether
the faith and resolution be such as have just
been described, is not discoverable by the most
practised and best skilled of men in the in
spection of the human mind and passions,
and is not known to the dying sinner himself.
The hazard then surely is great and alarming,
when, after fit occasions have been ministered
for performing both the conditions of salva
tion, life concludes without the clear fulfil
ment of the first condition. t
The convert whose acceptance our Lord
pronounced from the cross, had passed his
1 Matth. xxv. 41, &c.

14
life, it might be, in a station and employment
little favourable to his conversion ; and he was
placed in the midst of a nation strongly at
tached to their ancient religion and vehement
opposers of , Christianity. The knowledge
which he had acquired of the nature and end
of the Messiah's kingdom, makes it very
probable, that he had used to the utmost all
the means supplied to him of religious in
formation. That he had yielded an ingenuous
assent to the evidence of Christianitv offered
to him, and built upon it a firm faith, is mani
fest from the avowal he made of his belief and
hopes, when the author of them betrayed or
denied or deserted by his disciples, and, as it
might seem, forsaken by God, was suffering an
ignominious, unresisted death from the hands
of his enemies. Whether we imagine that his
faith had operated in the production of any
virtuous actions will depend on the judgment
we form as to the time when it was fully
established. His case however, it may be added, on the
supposition, that the first proofs, from which
his faith could have originated, were presented
to him at his crucifixion, though it be an
exception from the general rule of salvation,
belongs to a well defined class, and is attended
withnodifficultv.

15
For to sincere believers, who embrace Chris
tianity, as soon as it has been fitly proposed
to them,- remission' ofthe punishment due to
their past sins is everywhere promised in scrip
ture. Good works are made necessary to sal
vation, in every case, in which there is
opportunity fdr them ; but where a true faith
is no sooner thus formed, than it is deprived by
the event of death of all opportunity of display
ing itself in correspondent actions, it will
assuredly not lose its reward. d And such
instances it is evident may occur, as often as
the gospel is preached to mere heathen nations.
If then adopting this supposition we grant,
that the circumstances ofthe malefactor, whose
admission into paradise stands recorded, do not
remove his case beyond the possibility of such
an approach to it, as would be equivalent to
parallelism ; and that it may therefore constitute
a just foundation of consolation and hope; we
ought it seems also to contend, that it declines
widely from every case, to which long ad
mitted members of a christian community have
a personal interest in comparing it.
Moreover, if we conceive, that in the future
state there wilL be numerous gradations of
* Mark ix. 41.

16
reward rising from mere remission of pu
nishment to the highest enjoyment, we shall
perhaps incline to the opinion, that the claim
of faith and repentance, whieh have been in
fact unproductive of their proper fruits, will
be deemed to be of the lowest kind. And
the promise of our Lord to the penitent, To
day shalt thou be with me in paradise, implies
little, we may observe, as to degree of
happiness. e
To conclude. The principal suppositions,
which may be made in regard to the case
under our examination are the three following :
1. That, till the time of the crucifixion, the
penitent had never heard of Christ, pr of
Christianity :
2. That he had before that time become
acquainted with some ofthe acts and doctrines
of Christ ; but had paid no serious attention
to them :
3. That he had before the crucifixion se
riously reasoned on some of the acts and
doctrines of- our Lord, and drawn just and
important conclusions from them.
e See Paley's Mor. and Pol. Philosophy, B. I. c. 7. 8. 2.

17
Now if we admit, that the preceding argu*
ments and observations are in the main well
founded, we shall reject the two former
suppositions, and' adopt the third as alone
affording a satisfactory account of the testi
mony, which he bore to our Lord's innocence,
and of the great progress which he had made
in the knowledge of the mysterious Christian
scheme. Shall we then relying on this instance, which
may be justly at the least pronounced ambigu
ous, and is therefore perhaps wholly inappli
cable to the support of a doctrine, which it has
been shewn is not deducible from the parable,
which the advocates for it have chiefly alleged ;
shall we relying solely on such an instance
venture to promise the happiness of heaven to
the afflicted sinner, in whom though all along
professing the religion of Christ the first sense
of ill desert, the first regard to religion and to
his duty have been awakened at the near
approach of death ?
In a Christian country how various how
powerful are the means and the motives, as
well as numerous the opportunities to virtue,
which every Christian disregards, who rests
his hopes of happiness on late repentance ; the
transcendent rewards promised to the habitually
D

18
good ; the dreadful punishments denounced
against the. , wicked and the negligent; the
obligation of the sacramental vow ; the gene
ral diffusion and easy acquisition of religious,
information ; the constant invitation to the
knowledge and practice of religious duties
implied in the stated periodical performance of
religious offices ; the warnings of the ministers
of religion ; the occasional admonitions per
haps of friends ; the present equal tranquillity
and chearful hopes of the virtuous, the fearful
looking for of judgment in the wicked.
' Heb. x. 27.

THE END.

W. Flint, printer, Old Bailey, London.