The advocate. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1901-1913, 1912-07-25

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i tSs cis s Two iivsss 9 ,eso5SrsSsaf
n which h .say1, tG0d, b msrcitli %
me- Then, theorsticaily, No rasssD
Into glory. while his victim. not hav-
Ing the opportunity fora cry Tor mer-,
ry, we are told by. the same theory,
II doomed to endless torture. Z.
Note the circumstance. Jesus hung
between 3t,So thieves, one Of whom
Joined with the multitude in railing al
Him - an impostar, crying out, Eyes.
II yen be the Christ, save yourself ana
us ftgus death" The other. OF better
heart honestly admitted his own guilt
and the guilt Of his comrade, but de-
Tended Jesus. declaring thatNHe was
Innocent, Following this, he addresses.
Jesus. We paraphrase his words:
lord, ! have defended you against an
unjust attack; remember this Door
thief If you ever have an opportunity
to, do kindness to me In return.
heard you before PLATE say that you
have q Kingdom, butnot of this Age:
some heavenly Kingdom, I therefore.
presume. I know little about such
matters, but from what u have seen.
Of you can we'll stirmiB you King
Of such q Kingdom. My request is,
Remember me, when Thou CONTEST
into Thy Kingdom.
To this r11esns replied. "verily, verify
80 be 1t, SO be 1t, az you have asked)--
verify, ! sags unto thee this dry ,ithis
dark day, in which It would ap ear
that have not friend in Heaven OF
on earth--this dark day in (which 7
am crucifled as malefactor1he falst-
fer and blasphemer-1 say ditto 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 mint come first before Paradise
Lost can be restored and tho whole
earth be made Gods glorious foot-stool, )
as He has promised. But when the
time shall come, when tho 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 grtReB
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 hades, to sqeoI. 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 I'm
the dust Of the earth" who will come
forth in the resurrection morning.
Daniel xii ~ But Jesus4arose from
sheoF, from hGdes, from the tomb, from
th@etate Of death, on the third day.
H@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: II have not yet ascend
ed - to My Father. and your
Father, to My God, and your God"
Gohn Xxx, 17) 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:
, u amin 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 it not reasonable
to suppose that he did so, and that all
others, at least Of the saintly,. at death
so depart and pass at oncaS@nto the
presence and fellowship Of Jesus2
Yet such misunderstanding Of st.
Paul's words and thoughts are excus-
able in view OF the general trend Of
Christian thought IA this subject for
centuries, and in view Of to error
made in this case by the translators.
We are not faulting the translators,
because they had the erroneous thought
firmly embedded in their minds 1sfN
presumably were trying to make the
Apostle here say what they conscien-
t1ously thought he ought to say.
But what we are interested in know
ing is, What did he sag 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 brefhRen,
or whether he would prefer to df6Sahd
rest from his labors. Between these
two positions he had no choice. But
there was third thing-and IL this
had been possibility he would have
had no difficulty In >deciding-he had
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 1t to die and be at
rnaf from hia ln I,nsrn nNbo 41,ind 4l,i.,e.