Then were there two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand, and another on the left.
Ver. 38. Then were there two thieves] So he "was reckoned among the transgressors,"Isaiah 53:12; a sinner, not by imputation only, for "he bare the sin of many" (ib.), but by reputation also, and therefore crucified in the midst (as the worst of the three, "chief of sinners," Quasi maleficiorum rex esset), that we might have place in the midst of heavenly angels, in those walks of paradise, Zechariah 3:7. The one of those two thieves went railing to hell (his crucifixion being but a typical hell to him, a trap door to eternal torment), the other went repenting forthright to heaven, living long in a little time, and by prayer making his cross a Jacob's ladder, whereby angels descended to fetch up his soul. It is remarkable, and to our purpose suitable, that Rabus reporteth, that when Leonard Caesar suffered martyrdom at Rappa, a little town in Bavaria, a certain priest, that had by the law for some villanous act deserved death, being led forth with him towards the place of execution, cried out often, Ego ne quidem dignus sum, qui tibi in hac paena associer, iusto iniustus, I am not worthy to suffer with thee, the just with the unjust. At the death of George Eagles, martyr, in Queen Mary's days, two thieves going to be executed with him, he exhorted them to embrace the truth, and to persevere therein. Whereupon one of them scoffingly said, Why should we doubt about going to heaven, seeing this holy man shall go before us, as our captain in the way? we shall certainly flee straight there, as soon as he hath made us the entry. But the other thief reproved him for it, and gave good heed to George Eagles' exhortation, earnestly bewailing his own wickedness, and crying unto Christ for mercy. This penitent thief exhorted the people upon the ladder, to beware of sin by his example: and so commending his soul to Christ, ended his life quietly, and in a godly manner. The mocker when he came upon the ladder would have said something, but could not; his tongue did so fumble and falter in his head, that he could not repeat the Lord's prayer, but became a singular instance of God's just judgment upon so profane a person.