Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1914-03-18

calling and election sure to this Heav-
enly estate Of glory. honor, immortali-
ty and joint-heirship with our Lord,
the King Of kings and Lord of lords!
christs Atonement.
Both the thieves crucified with our
Lord lost their right to the original
Eden, or Paradise, Of God through Fa-
ther Adams 8isobedience, as did we
all. Both those thieves were born in
sin, shapen in inlqulty and in sin did
their mothers conceive them, as with
us ALL Both thieves were redeemed by
the precious blood Of Christ, as were
we all; for Jesus by the grace Of
God tasted death for every man.; "He
Is the Precipitation for our sins 1.-THE
Church's sinsl; and not for ours only.
but also for the sins of the whole
world. ."-Hebrews 30; John %.
Thus, as we have seen. the Redeemer
has made provision for both Of those
thieves, us well as for all of us-all Of
Adams race-to be recovered from the
sin and death conditions Of the fall,
and restored to Paradise. The Church,
called during this Gospel Age, may
reach the spiritual Paradise, or high
est condition Of holiness and happiness.
The two thieves and the remainder Of
mankind will have their opportunity
during the Millennium. Their opportu-
nifty will be for return to earthly life.
perfection and happiness, and to an
earthly Eden-w worldwide. How much
grander a work will thus result from
our Lords death than we had previous
ly supposed!
Let none suppose, however, that
those two thieves will enter Paradise
on the same footing. While both were
guilty, of robbery, they were evidently
dissimiar in the condition of their
hearts. The one was hardened, as evi-
denced by the fact that he could speak
so rudely to the Redeemer, whose face
bespoke gentleness, purity and limo
cence Of crime. "If Thou be the
Christ save Thyself and us" duke
23:30) Such cruelty implied a deep
degradation Of mind-implied that he
was sln-hardened
And yet we must remember that 9th
ers Of the multitude standing by used
similarly cruel language. We must
remember, too, that there are many
thieves who are not caught; and that
there are many, perhaps as morally
wrong, as evilly lntentloned, who, for
fear Of the consequences, never com.
mitted the wrongs. We can even sup
pose that some of the Scrbes and
Pharisees and Doctors Of Divinity Of
those days were in Gods sight much
worse than the impenltent thlef-mur-
derers at heart and In deed, Yet Of
the latter St Peter declared, II wot,
brethren, that through Ignorance ye
did It, as did also your rulers" when
you crucifled the Lord Of Glory. RE
pent ye therefore and be converts."-
Acts 3:15:l0,
An Earthly Paradise.
Ignorance, superstition and inherited
depravity all bore down upon the I'm
penltent thief to degree which we
are not capable Of properly estimating.
The Lord will Judge hm-both thieves
all mankind, The penltent thief will
unquestlonably have n twofold bless
ing: FIRST, he will be blessed for his
penltent attitude Of mind, second, he
will be blessed for his falthfulness in
! expressing that penitence and in show
ing mercy to our Lord in His distress,
Our Lord declared that even Il cup of
cold water given to the least of His
disciples shall have Its reward. Sure
ly II will be in harmony, then, that the
penltent thief will have reward for
his defense Of the Master.
That reward will consist first OF all,
In the blessing Of his own heart
through the action therein Of the mer.
clful sentiment. reward will come
to him In proportion to the exlgencies
OF the occasion and the greatness OF
the One whom he loved II the one
who favors righteous man will re-
celve righteous mans reward. and
the one who fayors Il prophet win re-
ceive prophets reward, surely the
one who favored the Redeemer will
receive special reward, such AS the
Redeemer might be expected to grant
Tho penitent thief manifested moi
only sympathy, but honesty. He sale
to the other, who rallied at the Lord
"Dost thou not fear God, seeing thoI
art In the same condemnatlong AnC
we indeed Justly; for we receive th'
due reward for our deeds; but this maj
hath done nothing amiss" (Luk'
2S.40, Al II IL entirely In keepinl
with the general teachings Of tn,
Lords Word that the honest hearted
and the merciful shall have specia
blessings. Those blessings canno
reach them In the grave, and II Is no
always that just returns reach the de
serving In the present life. Virtue i
not always lts own reward
Our Lord declares the truth on tn
subject. assuring us that such shall b.
"rccompensed ut the resurrection o
the just" That Is to say, when tn
just. the justified, the Church, shal
have been awakened in the First Res
direction, and when the Heavenl.
Kingdom shall have been establlshe,
amongst men, aud the general uwak
enlng OF the world from the sleep o
death shall gradually follow, then ey
cry good and every evil word, ever
good and every evil act win be recon