Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1871-12-01
Paradise.
"7nis world deem beautiful dream,


foundly exercised about the ,ohcre and the
hov of the soul after death. There is scarce,
ly another question that has suoh a hold and
fascination upon the human mind. And yet
the Bible, whilst its uttcranccs upon tho final
ties Of human destiny are distinct and en-
phatic, is remarkably rcticent upon tho min
ute details of that destiny. Even Christ, in
his teachings of the future addresses himself
not SO much to the speculative fancy as to
faith and our moral instincts.
Apart from the parable of Dives and I.aza.
rus, there is hardly anything in his teachings
concerning the state of tho soul between
death and the Judgment. Those whom he
recalled from the unseen world say nothing
Of that world. The widows son, wc are told,
sat up and began to speak, but we are not in.
formed what he said. 1t may be the mother
and friends that stood by the bier heard the
words of the returning spirit, only as the bab.
Bile of child, from which they could draw no
definite meaning and to which they could res
pond only by oaresscs. Lazarus, called back,
said nothing about tho spirit world. 1t is
doubtful whether, if he had spoken, his sis.
ters could have understood him All that
can be said concerning this is thus expressed
by Tenuysou in his liz Aienoriam
There lives no rccord Of reply,
Which, telling what it is to die
Had surely added praise to praise.
''Bchola man raised up by Christ
The rest repaineth unreycaled;
He told it not; or something sealed
The lips of that evangelist
But whilst Christ is strangely reticent upon
the details of the future life, his uttcranccs
concerning the fnalities Of human destiny are
wonderfully clear and emphatic. 1t may be
that to his view the one great, underlying
fact of future retribution-of "everasting
punishment" and "etcrnal life"-was so mo-
mcntous as to overshadow the mere accidental
and minute conditions Of the endless future
In that golden promise dropped from the
cross to the penitent chief, there is glimpse
Of untold possibilities of life and felicity to
the saved Immediately after death. That
poor, dying, trusting sinner is assured of in
slant transition from the cross to Paradise
To-day thou shalt be with me in Iuraaise."
But what did Jesus mean by Paradise p
Certainly not some department of Hudes ac.
cording to the popular sentiment some mys.
tic region Of haf-consc BUSINESS, where the
soul is left to lingcr for thousands of years be-
tween death and the resurrection no, not
any such halfway place between hell and
heaven; Christ meant heauen
In tho New Testament Iudcs has dismal
and repulsiyc association, and never involves
of necessity tho idea Of an ndiscriminato
abode Of the dead other than the grave
There is not passage which speaks of good
man as going to it, or having any personal
association with it. Whatever else is meant
by Paradise promised to the pcnitent thief it
does not mean any part of Hadcs. The it'ca
of a common residence of the righteous and
the wicked is relic of pagan mythology, and
is mere human fancy without any counten-
ance from the work of God. For, as has
been Justly remarked, Hades, which, from its
derivation and classic usage, might include
the whole invisible world, whenever its mean.
ing reaches beyond tho grave, always points
to tho place of future punishment. And it
is strange that word which, from its ctymol.
ogy and use, has only gloomy and repeIlant
associations, should ever be employed to des.
ignate the abode Of the righteous in future
world.
Tho word Paradise came into the New
Testament from tho Scptuagint, where it is
used for Eden. BY sin man lost the primo.
val Paradise; by tho redemption of Christ
the believer is restored to the favor and com
munion of God And how natural that
Christ, having finished the work of human
redemption, should re enter Paradise, taking
with him into its holy and blissful beauty the
converted malefactor, ms a trophy Of his flo.
ished work. What better name for tho heay.
on which Christ has purchased for the beliey.
er than Paradise If there is second
Adam, why should there not be second
Paradise?
In Tho Jewish conception the word was
not only name Of the past, denoting some
place Of beauty and blessedness, that linger
ed in memory as lovely dream Of the night
but it was word Of promise and hope for the
future-tho symbol of heaven. Evidentl,
Christ used the word according to tho Scptua
giut and the current idea Of tho Jews, ant
whom he promised to that poor, sinful, bu
p6nitent outoast, place in paradise, h
meant not some dreamy place In Hados--bu
heaven --and SO understood, it opened abov
that dying sinner the gate Of heaven, and h
went from that torturing c:oss to bo will
Jesus ia Paradise. And this is the hope ant