The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1912-07-30

was not true of David. that he did see
corruption, that his soul soaS left In
sheol, and is still there, and will not be
reclaimed until Messiah. in the resur-
section morning shall call him forth.
"5e With Me In Paradise"
But, says some one, did not the dy-
ing thief go with Jesus to Paradise
lhe very day In which they both died7
And If so, does not this prove that all
In harmony with God go to heaven
when they die, whatever may be the
condition of others in death?
No, we have made a stupid hlunder
and misinterpretation Of our Redeem
ar's dying words to the thief The
wrong thought being in our minds we
And our Interpretation has done an
immense amount of harm. Thousands
Of people have been encouraged to
continue a life of sin. trusting that
with their dying breath they may have
the opportunity of saying, God be
merciful to me-" and then be immedi
ately ushered into glory. honor and
ImAHOTtdlltH. ar JOltH~ucAS WIN tAC
Savior, and in as honorable station
as those who ''have fought to win the
prize. and sailed through bloody seas
Of trial persecution and self-denial.
What travesty of Justice to sup
pose such an application of this prin-
ciple! For instance. two ungodly per
sons quarrel Both draw revolvers
and FIRE; one dies instantly; the other.
the worse of the two, lives a moment,
In which he says, God, be merciful to
me-" Then, theoretically, he passes
into glory, while his victim, not hav-
ing the opportunity for cry for mer-
cy, we are told by the same theory,
u 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, Eyes,
If 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 if you ever have an opportunity
to do kindness to me in return. l
heard you before PLATE say that you
have Kingdom. but not Of this Age;
some heavenly Kingdom, therefore
presume. | know little about such
matters, kat from what l have seen
Of you I can well surmise you King
of such a Kingdom. My request is,
Remember me. when Thou contest
into Thy Kingdom
To this Jesus replied, verify, verify
(So be 1t, so be it, as you have Asked
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 l
am crucifed as a malefactor, falsi-
fer and bIasphemer-I say unto thee
this day., thou shalt be with Me in
Paradise
Paradise has not yet come. Messiah's
Kingdom has not yet been established;
and 1t 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 are 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 hGdeS, 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
been dead Let US hear His own
words to Mary on the morning Of His
resurrection: 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 Be With Christ.
| All, says one, | have great faith In
| st. Paul, and | remember his words:
Il am In a strait between two things:
having a desire to depart and to be
with Christ. which is far better" II
St Paul expected to depart and be
with Christ, why is it not reasonable
to suppose that he did so, and that all
others, at least of the sanity, at death
30 depart and pass at once into the
presence and fellowship Of Jesus?
Yet such a misunderstanding Of St.
Paul's words and thoughts are excus-
able In view Of the general trend Of
Christian thought on this subject for
C0nluElcSp anu III View VI lhO ClAOA
made in this case by the translators
We are not fauldng 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 conscien-
ttously thought he ought to say
But what we are interested in know
ing is, What did he say on the subject?
Let us read the Apostles words crit
ically. He was In a strait between
two things-whether he would prefer
to live and suffer further for the
Truths sake, and assist the brethren,
or whether he would prefer to die and
rest from his labors. Between these
two positions he had no choice. But
there was a third thing-and If this
had been possibility he would have
had no difficulty in deciding-he had a
real, positive desire respecting it; mel
Their 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? 1t
was not to live and suffer and help the
brethren, nor was it to die and be at
rest from his labors. The third thing,
according to a literal translation, Is
expressed thus: II have a desire for
the retwrHsnO, 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.
But, says one, by what authority do
you render the word depart by word
Of very opposite meaning, namely no