Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1912-07-30
Pastor Russell's Sermon

the worse or the twO. nvea DiomeBI,
In which he says. God. be merclful TO
me-" Then. theoretically. he passes
into glory, while his victim. not hav-
ing the opportunity for a cry for mer-
cy, we are told by the same theory,
is doomed to endless torture.
Note the circumstance. Jesus hung
between two thieves, one Of whom
Joined with the multitude In railing at
Him as an imposter, crying out, YES,
II you be the Christ, save yourself and
us from DEATH" The other. Of better
heart, honestly admitted his own guilt
and the guilt Of his comrade, but de-
Tended Jesus, declaring that He was
Innocent. Following this, he addresses
Jesus. We paraphrase his words:
Lord, have defended you against an
unjust attack; remember this poor
thief II you ever have an opportunity
to do a kindness to me In return.
heard you before PLATE say that you
have a Kingdom, but not Of this Age;
some heavenly Kingdom. | therefore
presume. know little about such
matters, but from what ! have seen
of you can well surmlse you King
OF such a Kingdom. My request Is,
Remember me, when Thou comest
into Thy Kingdom
To this Jesus replied, "Verily, verify
$50 be II, so be II, as you have askedj-
verify, say unto thee this day this
dark day, in which 1t would appear
that have not friend In Heaven or
on earth-this dark day in which
am cruclfed as n malefactor, falsi-
fer and q .blasphemer-l say unto thee
this day., thou shalt be with Me In
Paradise"
Paradise has not yet come. Messlah's
Kingdom has not yet been established;
and It must come first before Paradise
Lost can be restored and the whole
earth be made Gods glorious foot-stool,
as He has promised. But when the
time shall come, when the Kingdom
shall be established, when Paradise
conditions shall be introduced, the
resurrection OF that thief will be IN Or
der; "for all that nre In their graves
shall hear the voice Of the Son Of Man
and shall come forth" The thief will
then find himself In Paradise--not
merely because Of the kindness done
to Jesus, but especially because his
kind words indicated a sincerity and
honesty Of heart such as the Lord Is
always glad to bless and reward.
On the day Of their dying all three
went to hqdcs, to Sheol, to the tomb. to
the state Of the dead The two thieves
still remain there. and are amongst
those mentioned by the Prophet Daniel
when he refers to those "who sleep IN
the dust of the earth" who will come
forth In the resurrection morning.
Daniel xii, 81 But Jesus arose from
sheoI, from hades from the tomb, from
the state Of death. on the third day.
He had not been TO Paradise, for Para
disc Is not even yet in existence. He
had not been to Heaven, for He had
uVtu utuu' l4el US HtuT ilo OMu
words to Mary on the morning of His
resurrectlon: 81 have not yet ascend
ed to My Father, and your
Father, to My God, and your God"
John Xxx. III Could anything be
palmer, simpler, more harmonious?
Depart and 30 With Christ.
All, says one, | have great faith In
st. Paul, and remember his words:
81 am In strait between two things:
having desire to depart and to be
with Christ, which Is far better" If
St Paul expected TO depart and be
with Christ, why Is 1t not reasonable
to suppose that he did so, and that all
others, at least Of the sanity. at death
80 depart and pass at once into the
presence and fellowship of Jesus2
Yet such Misunderstanding OF st.
Pauls words and thoughts are excus-
able In view OF the general trend Of
Christian thought on this subject for
centuries, and in view of the error
made In this case by the translators.
We are not faultlng the translatOrs,
because they had the erroneous thought
firmly embedded In their minds and
presumably were trying to make the
Apostle here say what they consclen-
tiously thought he ought to say.
But what we are interested In know
ing ia. What did he SAP on the subject?
Let us read the Apostles words crit
ically He was In strait between
two thlngs-whether he would prefer
TO hve and suffer further for the
Truths sake, and assist the brethren
or whether he would prefer to die aud
rest from his labors Between these
two positions he had no choice. But
there was third thlng-0nd II this
had been n possibility he would have
had no difficulty in decldlng-he had
real, positive desire respecting IT, nei
ther of the things which were possible
to him would have stood In comparison
at all, this third thing would have
been SO desirable
Now what was that third thing? II
was not TO live and suffer and. help the
brethren, nor was II 10 die and be at
rest from his labors The third thing,
according to literal translation, is
expressed thus; II have desire for
the reimRing, and being with Christ,
which Is far better" far better than
either living under the present trying
conditions or dying. sleeping. resting
and waiting for the Kingdom.