31.  What power, O robber, led thee to the light?  Who taught thee to worship that despised Man, thy companion on the Cross?  O Light Eternal, which gives light to them that are in darkness!  Therefore also he justly heard the words, Be of good cheer θάρσει.  An addition to the text of Luke xxiii. 43 in Codex Bezae.; not that thy deeds are worthy of good cheer; but that the King is here, dispensing favours.  The request reached unto a distant time; but the grace was very speedy.  Verily I say unto thee, This day shalt thou be with Me in Paradise; because to-day thou hast heard My voice, and hast not hardened thine heart Ps. xcv. 7, 8..  Very speedily I passed sentence upon Adam, very speedily I pardon thee.  To him it was said, In the day wherein ye eat, ye shall surely die Gen. ii. 17.; but thou to-day hast obeyed the faith, to-day is thy salvation.  Adam by the Tree fell away; thou by the Tree art brought into Paradise.  Fear not the serpent; he shall not cast thee out; for he is fallen from heaven Luke x. 18..  And I say not unto thee, This day shalt thou depart, but, This day shalt thou be with Me.  Be of good courage:  thou shalt not be cast out.  Fear not the flaming sword; it shrinks from its Lord Gen. iii. 24.  S. Ambrose (Ps. cxix. Serm. xx. § 12):  “All who desire to return to Paradise must be tried by fire:  for not in vain the Scripture saith that when Adam and Eve were driven out of their abode in Paradise, God placed at the gate of Eden a flaming sword which turned every way.”.  O mighty and ineffable grace!  The faithful Abraham had not yet entered, but the robber enters Cf. Iren. V. c. 5, § 1; Athan. (Expos. Fid. c. i.):  “He shewed us.…an entrance into Paradise from which Adam was cast out, and into which he entered again by means of the thief.”  S. Leo (de Pass. Dom. Serm. II. c. 1):  “Excedit humanam conditionem ista promissio:  nec tam de ligno Crucis, quam de throno editur potestatis.”!  Moses and the Prophets had not yet entered, and the robber enters though a breaker of the law.  Paul also wondered at this before thee, saying, Where sin abounded, there grace did much more abound Rom. v. 20..  They who had borne the heat of the day had not yet entered; and he of the eleventh hour entered.  Let none murmur against the goodman of the house, for he says, Friend, I do thee no wrong; is it not lawful for Me to do what I will with Mine own Matt. xx. 12 ff.?  The robber has a will to work righteousness, but death prevents him; I wait not exclusively for the work, but faith also I accept.  I am come who feed My sheep among the lilies Cant. vi. 3., I am come to feed them in the gardens.  I have found a sheep that was lost Luke xv. 5, 6., but I lay it on My shoulders; for he believes, since he himself has said, I have gone astray like a lost sheep Ps. cxix. 176.; Lord, remember me when Thou comest in Thy kingdom.