The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1913-10-21

The influence of the text, the Pastor
declared, is greatly increased by the
unscriptural thought that the dying
sinner passes into everlasting torture.
Those under the spell of that false doc
trine cannot be reproved for wishing
to escape from its terrifying influence.
As the drowning man grasps at a
straw, so those whose hopes for their
dead are being held up by this error,
grasp at the narrative of the thief, and
hope thai their departed experienced
momentary repentance said Jesus,
forgive me-" ard straightway was car
ried to Paradise. The absurdity of the
proposition is crowded out by the min
Cling Of the hope with their love for
the deceased.
Well do | remember conducting a
funeral service which was interrupted
by the walls of the widow. The hus-
band had been shot by an assassin's
bullet In distant mining region. He
had died not being a member of
church, and by no means saint. The
poor widows walls, l afterward learn
ed, were caused by the thought that,
not having had a moments warning,
the murdered man had failed to say,
"God forgive me-" and thus to gain
Paradise
Who can blame the poor woman for
the absurdity of her reasoning? Had
she not been taught so to think by all
the great crceds of Christendom? Had
not her husband and herself been tax
ing that very chance Of having a mo-
ment for repentance before expiringf
1t is a shame that this wrong thought
has been so long allowed to keep peo-
pie back from making their peace with
God in earlier life.
Repentance Always Proper, of Course.
Let me not be misunderstood. 1
would not discourage a death-bed re-
pentance, or any other. | would, how
ever, have all to recognize that there
are fixed rules of Divine Justice which
forbid us to think that there is a hell
full of unfortunates who died sudden
ly, with no opportunity for repentance;
that there Is Heaven full of lucky
murderers, thieves and vagabonds,
who were carried to glory without any
real change of heart, or character, but
merely as reward for momentary
prayer. Whatsoever a man sowerh,
that shall he also reap" Whoev er
sows a life Of sin and indulgence
will not reap glory, honor and immor-
tality, but more depraved disposition
than that with which he was born.
The Dying Thiefs Prayer.
The supposition that the dying thief
asked to go to Heaven with Jesus as
reward for a few kindly words Is
mistake. The supposition that Jesus
promised that he would go to Heaven
that same day is also a mistake. Jesus
stead, He went to the Bible hell
Hades, Sheol, the tomb. He remained
dead, st. Peter tells us, until the third
day, when God raised Him from the
dead by Divine Power 1t was after
His resurrection ON the third day that
He appeared to Mary and said, II
| have not yet assembled to My Father
and your Father, to My God and your
God. John 20:1T.
The Bible tells that Paradise was
lost through Adams sin, six thousand
years ago; that it is to be restored as
result of Jesus death; and the time
of its restoration will be during the
thousand years of Messiah's Kingdom
Since there was no Paradise when Je-
sus died. He could not have meant that
the thief would be there with Him
that day. The claim made by Jesus
was that He was TO be a King. The
thieves had heard Pilates question,
''Art Thou a King. them They had
heard Jesus reply. that to this end was
He born. But He added, MY King
dom is not of this Age
The thief caught the thought that
the grand, kingly character beside him
was probably the Messiah. the King
| of Israel. How to explain the cir
cumstances of that dark hour he
knew not, but he defended Jesus.
Then with measure of hope he said,
Lord, when Thou contest into Thy
Kingdom. remember me-" In other
| words, believe that you are a King,
and that somehow you will yet have a
Kingdom. l have sufficient fa4sh to
ask you to grant a poor thief a bless
Ing when you reach that Kingdom.
Misplacement of Comma by TransIa-
tore.
Jesus reply should be carefully stud
led. In substance it was, Poor thief, 1
appreciate your words; and when My
Kingdom shall be established, l will
remember your kindness and will re-
ward it. Notwithstanding this dark
! day with its unfavorable setting, am
really King. and these experiences
are necessary for Me, that l may enter
into My Kingdom. Thus Jesus said.
Be it as you have asked will re-
member you when l come into posses
sion of My Kingdom. Verify l say
unto you this day, thou shalt be with
Me In Paradise"
The difficulty has been with the
wrong thought of the translators, and
the displacement of the comma.
Punctuation is a modern convenience
In all languages. There is none in the
original Scriptures. The translators
| put the comma where they thought 1t
should be, but evidently they made a
great mistake. 1t would be thoroughly
inconsistent to say that Jesus went to
| Paradise, when He had not yet ascend
| ed to the Father, and when the prom
| Used Paradise is to be established In
the earth after the Second Coming OF
Christ, as a result Of His Millennial
Reign.-Revelation 21:4-5
Placing the comma where we have
done leaves the passage thoroughly In
accord with all the Bible. That pas
sage. properly understood, leaves not
a shadow Of Scriptural support to the
thought that a prayer a moment before
death would change the everlasting
destiny of anybody
Both Thieves In Bible He'll.
Let us get back TO the Bible Let us
get rid of the foolishness of the creeds.
Let us remember that a dead man is
dead, as the Bible declares. His sons
come to honor, and he knoweth 1t not;
they come TO dishonor. but he per-
ceiveth 1t not of them" There is nei-
Their device nor knowledge nor wisdom
in Sheol [Hades. the tomb, whittier
thou goest''- whittier all go.
But nothing in the Bible suggests
that man dies In the same sense as the